[mythtv-users] Cable Quality component DVI HDMI ?

Mr. Demeanour mrdemeanour at jackpot.uk.net
Tue Dec 12 16:28:17 UTC 2006


Steven Adeff wrote:
> On 12/12/06, Brad DerManouelian <myth at dermanouelian.com> wrote:
>> On Dec 12, 2006, at 1:44 AM, Mr. Demeanour wrote:
>>> Brad DerManouelian wrote:
>>>> I believe component is the analog version of those digital
>>>> signals and you would be hard pressed to actually see any
>>>> difference between them.
>>> I disagree with that.
>>> 
>>> Or rather, it probably depends on your display. I find that DVI
>>> is significantly crisper and more accurate than component; I view
>>> using a DLP projector, with which it is quite easy to discern
>>> individual pixels. With component there is noticeable smudging
>>> between adjacent pixels, but with DVI there is almost none. It's
>>> obviously much less noticeable when watching moving video than
>>> when viewing desktop stuff, but video is also improved by using
>>> DVI - at least with my setup.
>>> 
>>> My setup is dual-head (or was, until my LCD panel flaked out).
>>> The LCD panel was connected to the component output, and looked
>>> fine. But the panel was 1280x1024, 15"; the projector is 1024x576
>>> onto a 2m-diagonal 'screen', and any loss of resolution shows up.
>>> 
>> Like I said.. hard pressed. :)
> 
> Your source and display electronics will have more influence on the 
> quality difference between HDMI/DVI and component. HDMI/DVI lend 
> themselves better to longer runs though, being digital and all. That 
> said, using our DCT6200 as a test source, I could barely tell the 
> difference between DVI and component to our 65" 1080p. The component 
> showed more noise in busy high detail scenes. "Sunrise Earth" looked 
> the same for both...

Well, I've tried both component and DVI on the projector, and the
improvement when using DVI is quite easily distinguished. It's not the
length of the cable-run, as the component cable is less than a third the
length of the DVI cable. The display card is NVidia 5400.

As I said, the difference is most evident when viewing computer output,
such as digital type; it is much less pronounced when watching standard
(DVB) video, but it is still noticeable - that is, it was sufficiently
evident to bother me before even I had seen what effect switching to DVI
would have.

I'd suppose that the higher the resolution of your display, and the
smaller its physical dimensions, the less difference it would make to
use DVI. I.e. if you can't distinguish two adjacent pixels anyway, then
it won't make much difference to you if they are a bit smudged together.
My projector pixels are about 1mm^2, and can be easily separated, even
from my sofa.

For what it's worth, the projector is a Hitachi HC900E (DLP), which I'm
pretty pleased with; my only objection is that its fan makes quite a bit
more noise than the rest of the system does.

YMMV,
Jack.


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